Team USA Faces Challenges Without Stars at FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup

The World Cup stage is almost set. In Berlin, less than a day before the ball goes up, Team USA arrives both loaded and wounded, chasing a fifth straight FIBA Women’s Basketball World Cup crown without two of its biggest stars.

A'ja Wilson and Kelsey Plum are out. The expectations are not.

Caitlin Clark, speaking to FIBA on the eve of her first senior World Cup, captured the weight of it all: playing here is “special,” and this tournament, she said, can be even tougher than the Olympics. She’s right. The international game has caught up in depth and ambition. These titles are no longer handed to the United States. They’re hunted.

On Friday morning in Berlin (8:15 a.m. ET), China gets first crack at the champs.

Lawson’s puzzle without Wilson and Plum

Kara Lawson walks into this World Cup with a roster that can hurt teams from everywhere, but without the safety net of Wilson’s dominance and Plum’s relentless shot-making. That changes everything.

It changes the starting lineup. It changes who leads. It changes how this team will look in the final five minutes of tight games.

Lawson’s likely answer? Keep players as close to their natural roles as possible, lean into versatility and let her veterans steady a young guard corps that has never played a senior World Cup or Olympics.

At the heart of that plan is Chelsea Gray.

Chelsea Gray: The organizer

Chelsea Gray, Las Vegas Aces (PG)

Gray is the obvious tone-setter at point guard. Lawson will almost certainly trust her experience to guide a backcourt that includes Clark and Paige Bueckers, both electric but new to this stage at senior level.

The question is not whether Gray starts. It’s how long she stays on the floor and how much she’s asked to control.

In March’s FIBA Qualifying Tournament, Gray played limited minutes as the staff evaluated the pool. Her numbers were modest — 5.6 points and 4.8 assists per game — but those qualifiers were never about stats. In Berlin, her role sharpens: manage tempo, get Stewart and Boston touches in the right spots, and calm the game when it starts to spin.

Jackie Young: The two-way hammer

Jackie Young, Las Vegas Aces (SG)

At shooting guard, Jackie Young looks like the natural choice. She hasn’t played in a World Cup, but she doesn’t carry herself like a newcomer.

Young is one of the best two-way guards on the roster. She scores at all three levels, facilitates when needed and guards the opponent’s best perimeter threat without blinking. In Paris with the 2024 U.S. Olympic team, she averaged 9.5 points, 2.3 rebounds, 2.3 assists and tied for the team lead in steals at 1.5 per game.

That profile is exactly what Lawson needs next to Gray and, later, next to Clark: a guard who can toggle between creator and finisher, stopper and scorer, depending on the lineup around her.

Napheesa Collier: Sliding to the wing

Napheesa Collier, Minnesota Lynx (SF)

Here’s where Lawson gets creative.

Napheesa Collier is a natural power forward, but this roster likely asks her to live at small forward. It’s not a demotion. It’s a statement of trust.

Collier has yet to play in a senior World Cup, but she’s already a two-time Olympic gold medalist, part of the 2020 Tokyo and 2024 Paris teams. In Paris, she averaged 6.7 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 assists, doing the dirty work that rarely makes headlines but wins tournaments.

On the wing, Collier gives the U.S. a bigger, more physical look against the taller international lineups that have bothered them in the past. She can switch across positions, rebound like a forward and still space the floor enough to keep the paint open for Boston and Stewart.

Breanna Stewart: The anchor with three golds

Breanna Stewart, New York Liberty (PF)

Every great tournament team needs a constant. For the United States, that’s Breanna Stewart.

Lawson can start her at power forward and slide her to center when the game demands more speed and spacing. Stewart brings three World Cup gold medals and more big-game minutes than anyone else in this squad.

In the 2022 World Cup, she averaged 12.8 points, 6.6 rebounds, 3.0 assists, 1.3 steals and 1.4 blocks, earning a spot on the tournament’s All-Star Five. Now, with Wilson sidelined, the U.S. may lean even more heavily on Stewart to anchor the defense, protect the rim and generate offense from the elbows and beyond the arc.

If this team needs a voice in the huddle and a bucket on the next possession, it’s often going to be hers.

Aliyah Boston: The new centerpiece

Aliyah Boston, Indiana Fever (C)

No Wilson means a different kind of presence in the paint.

Aliyah Boston steps into the starting center role with a mandate: own the glass, win her one-on-one battles and punish slower bigs with her agility.

Boston withdrew from the 2026 World Cup Qualifying Tournament, but she did feature in the 2024 Olympic Qualifying event, averaging 5.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, 1.0 steal and 1.0 block in nearly 23 minutes per game. Those numbers hint at the kind of defensive impact Lawson will want to crank up in Berlin.

She doesn’t need to be Wilson. She needs to be Boston — mobile, smart, and relentless in the paint.

Firepower off the bench

Behind that starting five sits a bench that could swing entire games.

• Caitlin Clark, Indiana Fever
• Paige Bueckers, Dallas Wings
• Kahleah Copper, Phoenix Mercury
• Kiki Iriafen, Washington Mystics
• Angel Reese, Atlanta Dream

How Lawson staggers these minutes might define the tournament.

Clark will almost certainly see heavy time at point guard, whether Gray’s minutes are kept in check or not. She arrives as the MVP of March’s FIBA World Cup Qualifying Tournament, where she averaged 11.6 points and 6.4 assists. Her vision, deep range and ability to bend defenses will change the rhythm of games the moment she checks in.

Next to her, Bueckers should slot in behind Young. Her two-way game mirrors some of Young’s strengths — scoring, secondary playmaking, defensive activity — giving Lawson a smooth handoff from starter to reserve.

On the wing, Kahleah Copper brings a different kind of edge. If she spells Collier, the U.S. can toggle between Collier’s size and Copper’s slashing aggression, a one-two punch that can overwhelm tired defenses.

Up front, Kiki Iriafen and Angel Reese give Lawson options. Both should see real minutes. Iriafen offers energy and versatility; Reese brings rebounding, physicality and, if needed, minutes at center — a role she’s already taken on this season with the Dream amid injuries.

How those frontcourt pieces fit around Stewart and Boston is still an open question. It’s one Lawson will start answering as soon as the ball goes up against China.

The title defense begins with uncertainty, but not doubt. The names have changed, the roles have shifted, yet the standard remains the same. In Berlin, we find out if this version of Team USA can carry it.